Rigel

enUK

Ri·gel

R0243400 (rī′jəl)n. A bright binary star in the constellation Orion, approximately 815 light years from Earth.

[Arabic rijl, foot; see rgl in Semitic roots.]

Rigel

(ˈraɪdʒəl; ˈraɪɡəl) n (Celestial Objects) the brightest star, Beta Orionis, in the constellation Orion: a very luminous and extremely remote bluish-white supergiant, a double star. Visual magnitude: 0.12; spectral type: B8I[C16: from Arabic rijl foot; from its position in Orion's foot]

Ri•gel

(ˈraɪ dʒəl, -gəl)

n. a first-magnitude star in the constellation Orion. [1585–95; < Arabic rijl foot]

Ri·gel

(rī′jəl) A very bright, bluish-white star in the constellation Orion. It is a supergiant.Word History The history of astronomy owes much to Arabic scientists of the Middle Ages, who preserved the astronomical learning of ancient Greece and made improvements on it. The English names of many of the brightest stars in the heavens are Arabic in origin. The name of the supergiant star Rigel, for example, comes from the Arabic word for "foot" (the foot of the constellation Orion, that is). Some other important stars whose names are Arabic include Aldebaran, "the one following (the Pleiades)"; Betelgeuse, "hand of Orion"; Deneb, "tail" (of the constellation Cygnus, the swan); and Altair, "the flying eagle" (in the constellation Aquila, the eagle). The names of other stars are usually Greek or Latin, such as Antares or Sirius, as are the names of the constellations.

Thesaurus

Noun

Rigel - the brightest star in Orion Beta Orionis

Translations

Rigel

enUK

Rigel

(rī`jəl), bright star in the constellation OrionOrion,
in astronomy, constellation located on the celestial equator. It is one of the most conspicuous and easily recognizable constellations in the entire sky. From ancient times it has been mentioned in the literature of many peoples and is traditionally depicted as the figure
..... Click the link for more information. ; Bayer designation Beta Orionis; 1992 position R.A. 5^h14.2^m, Dec. −8°13'. A huge, blue supergiant of spectral classspectral class,
in astronomy, a classification of the stars by their spectrum and luminosity. In 1885, E. C. Pickering began the first extensive attempt to classify the stars spectroscopically.
..... Click the link for more information. B8 Ia, Rigel has an intrinsic brightness about 40,000 times as luminous as that of the sun. It is an irregular variable starvariable star,
star that varies, either periodically or irregularly, in the intensity of the light it emits. Other physical changes are usually correlated with the fluctuations in brightness, such as pulsations in size, ejection of matter, and changes in spectral type, color, or
..... Click the link for more information. , with apparent magnitudemagnitude,
in astronomy, measure of the brightness of a star or other celestial object. The stars cataloged by Ptolemy (2d cent. A.D.), all visible with the unaided eye, were ranked on a brightness scale such that the brightest stars were of 1st magnitude and the dimmest stars
..... Click the link for more information. ranging from 0.08 to 0.20, making it normally the seventh-brightest star in the sky. Its distance from the earth is nearly 1,000 light-years. Rigel is actually a four-star system consisting of a visual binary starbinary star
or binary system,
pair of stars that are held together by their mutual gravitational attraction and revolve about their common center of mass. In 1650 Riccioli made the first binary system discovery, that of the middle star in the Big Dipper's handle, Zeta
..... Click the link for more information. , each component of which is itself a spectroscopic binary. Its name is from the Arabic word meaning "foot," indicating its position in the constellation.

Rigel

(rÿ -jĕl) (β Ori) A massive luminous and remote bluish-white supergiant that is very conspicuous and is the brightest star in the constellation Orion. It marks Orion's left foot. According to the Hipparcos catalog, its distance from the Sun is about 773 light-years (237 parsecs), though estimates have ranged between 900 and 1400 l.y. If the Hipparcos measurement is correct, Rigel is at least 40 000 times as luminous as the Sun. Rigel's diameter is thought to equal 70 solar diameters. It is a member of a large association that includes the stars of Orion's Belt and the Orion nebula. There is a 7th-magnitude companion at a separation of 9″.5, which is itself a binary. m_v : 0.18 (var.); M_v : –6.69(?); spectral type: B8 Iae.

Rigel

(also β Orionis), a star of visual stellar magnitude 0.1, one of the brightest stars in the sky; the brightest star in the constellation of Orion. Rigel is located at a great distance from the sun (330 parsecs) and has a high luminosity—81,000 times greater than the luminosity of the sun. Rigel is a visual binary star; its companion star, of stellar magnitude 7, is separated from Rigel by 10ʺ.

Rigel

[rī·jəl] (astronomy) A multiple star of stellar magnitude 0.08, 650 light-years from the sun, spectral classification B8-Ia, in the constellation Orion; the star β Orionis.

Rigel

A database language? Based on Pascal. Listed byM.P. Atkinson & J.W. Schmidt in a tutorial presented inZurich, 1989.

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Synonyms for Rigel

noun the brightest star in Orion

Synonyms